Abstract

Overviews the role of the visual record in studies of the early commedia dell'arte, and examines ten pictures attributed to Lodewyk Toeput (c.1550-1605) within the context of six stylistically and/or compositionally related groups of theatrical pictures associated with artists such as Ambrose I Francken, Joos de Momper, Louis de Caulery, Leandro Bassano, Marten de Vos and Sebastian Vrancx. Many of the twenty-nine pictures discussed are previously unreproduced in a theatre historical context.